Family Bond
by Vicky Tzalachani
Summary: Doctor Athanasia Bozinekis-Maxwell had a hard life and her arrival to Chicago and her begining of her working days in Chicago Med would finally give her the family, friends and feeling of belonging she yearned for. But what is her past? Well, let's take a dive in! *Triger Warning for verbal, phycological and physical abuse, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt, bullying*


_**Hello! So this story has been in my head for a year or so and it's a perfect mix of real life events that happened to me and fiction. I hope you like it!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 _ **Family Bond**_

Athanasia Bozinekis was a girl…no a woman that had only met with hardships and she didn't feel comfortable when things were good, she expected for the other shoe to drop.

Why you ask?

Well, the short version of the story is this;

Athanasia Bozinekis was not born with this name she was born with the name Vasiliki Skorpiti and in a small island in Greece called Lesvos and she grew up in a Army family, he dad was in the Army, her grandparents on both sides of the family fought the Civil War and her great grandpas fought World War 2 and her great great grandpas fought World War 1 so she was expected to join the Army or at least the something similar but she didn't…she followed the Arts and Crafts path.

Her parents had no problem with it since her grandma from her dad's side was an excellent dressmaker and his father when he retired from the Army he had become a House painter and Constructor while from her mum's side of the family they had became teachers, professors and doctors and all of them loved the arts and history so she wasn't a disappointment.

Her parents weren't that bad when it came to choosing a career, they were very loose and that had made clear their desire for at least one of the two daughters to join the Army if they wouldn't that was okay too.

The good qualities of her parents stopped there.

When she was five years old her parents started acting weird they would shove her, slap her and yell at her and even hit her at times. She grew up being constantly sad and wondering why her parents didn't love her.

At times they would lock her in her room whenever mum's friend Christina would show up and she would only be allowed out of the room to eat lunch and that if she was well behaved and didn't cry or tried to come out of her room. If it happened (which it did many times) wanted to go pee she would pee in a corner in her room and then get a beating for peeing in the room or pooping. As she grew older she found that her parents' balcony door was always open and she would sneak in and rush to the bathroom since both her room and her parent's room along with the bathroom's window shared the same balcony. And whenever she could she would sneak dry food and hide it underneath her bed or inside drawers just so she can have food whenever Christina would be around.

The first time it happened she was caught completely off guard; she was playing with her dollies in the living room when the doorbell rang and her mum looked at her and smiled as she opened the door and Christina walked inside. She greeted young Athanasia and then proceed to sit down and have a cup of coffee with her friend, Athanasia's mum.

But before her mum sat down he grabbed young Athanasia's hand and her dollies and guided her to her room and said;

"Stay there until I come to get you."

Athanasia nodded and continue playing completely oblivious to what would happen in a few hours. Several hours later Athanasia had pee her diaper and wanted a change plus she was hungry. She tried to open the door from the door knob but wouldn't budge she started hitting the door and yelling;

"Mommy!?"

She could clearly hear her mum talking with her friend and laughing, she wasn't sure if they laughed with her or not, but it hurt. She sat behind the door and sobbing as she kept on calling her mum until she cried herself to sleep.

Suddenly the door opened and hit her in the head it was her dad with his Army uniform and diaper change.

"Hello, kiddo! Sorry about that! It won't happen again." Her dad had said in a soft fatherly tone.

But it would happen. Many many times again and always her dad would come in and say the same mantra to the point Athanasia knew not to believe him.

When she was eight she learnt that her mum and dad would give her a baby sister. Instead of being excited she feared for the baby's safety.

What if they do the same thing to her? To both of them!

NO! She won't let it happen! Her sister, her responsibility.

So, the years went by with her parents doing the same thing to her sister and her until she reached seventeen and her sister nine years old she had made a plan in her head;

 _ **List:**_

 _ **Graduate with a Graphics Design Degree from High School and have your English Proficiency Certificate.**_

 _ **Go for 3 years to College study Directing and History while you work as a Graphic Designer.**_

 _ **Collect money and apply for a Green Card in US.**_

 _ **Try to legally change your name to Athanasia Bozinekis from Vasiliki Skorpiti.**_

 _ **Go to Chicago and try to find a job as a Graphic Designer or as Historian or a teacher of History while you go to Med School.**_

 _ **Graduate from Med School and work as a Trauma Surgeon/ ED Doctor.**_

She kept that list in her head in fear of anyone finding out. At some point she met her best friends Polly and Natalia who were her only reason why she continued going to school, just so she can be with them.

With the years Polly and Natalia got into fights and Athanasia refused to believe that those two couldn't be friends. Then the soul and world shuttering news came. Her dad was retiring from the Army and they would be moving to her mum's hometown forever!

So, she said goodbye to her friends with promises of keeping in touch via social media and calls but Athanasia never told of the abuse or of her bullying or the depression she was suffering ever since she was 8 years old. And as she returned to a town where everyone knew her mum and her dad or her grandparents she felt trapped and as if someone had added the a weight to keep her mouth shut from telling anyone of what was going at home.

She found difficult adjusting and she didn't have friends she witnessed that she lost touch with Polly but kept touch with Natalia unfortunately she started lying to her about having friends.

Natalia had become a popular girl now and she was miles away dealing with abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, loneliness and bullying. She started turning her acne into scars all over her body not her face.

Athanasia started hating Natalia's perfect life so she started dodging to answer the question;

" _ **How are you?"**_

She would tell Natalia lies she would come up at the spot and always about other people not about her.

Natalia started drifting apart from Polly and Athanasia and wouldn't call Athanasia back for days then the days became weeks and then months.

Natalia would use the excuse of homework and private lessons and Athanasia understood but she missed the only familiar thing in her life, her.

One November, Athanasia have had enough of Natalia acts after calling her and setting a time to talk on the phone and when the time came Natalia didn't call her back but instead went to a friend and watched a movie and posted a check-in on Facebook and Athanasia saw it.

She wrote a farewell text to Natalia and sent it.

Their friendship ended and Athanasia's mental health declined.

And kept declining.

Until she grew angry for how much Natalia seemed to have control over her happiness and she started hating her.

Athanasia had another friend named Thea who was way too similar to Natalia but a lot more bitchy but Athanasia kept on saying to herself that she will change with years because she was two years younger than Athanasia.

But Thea turned out to be a real bitch…she used Athanasia's shared secrets against her and Thea's other friends who were in her class kept on sabotaging her essays and paintings during Art class except one, Mary, that kept on complimenting Athanasia's paintings or ask her about them, Athanasia kept on having a cold exterior towards everyone especially her classmates and her Art teacher who seemed to not hear her.

Her Art Teacher by the name Mila would cut her off whenever she would try to ask questions or say something or take part in a conversation that was going on during class. Until, Athanasia started holding everything to herself; emotions, ideas, questions, comebacks, corrections…everything!

She remembered how she was back in Primary School in Lesvos, how the teachers hadn't heard her voice for over three grades and when she finally spoke in front of the class and had asked to be part of the school Choir everyone was shocked and she had to repeat her request.

She became that girl again but now she had two things keeping her company; her phone and headphones along with music. She would put them on and draw or do whatever task Mrs. Mila would give them.

Mrs. Mila noticed her change of behavior one day and asked her as they were doing some remake of one of Dali's paintings why she never spoke.

And that they had to hear her speaking for over three months.

Athanasia looked emotionless at her teacher and just shrugged and went back doing her part on the essay.

One day Mrs. Mila had a scare of her life when Athanasia was just standing washing some brushes when she started having a weird seizure-like reaction as she stumbled away from the tap and clutched her heart and groan in pain as her face was visibly pale and wet with sweat. Athanasia fell on her knees and started to spasm uncontrollable and crying from pain then her nose started bleeding and after that she lost consciousness.

With the fall and the seizure she had sustained a worrisome head injury that had started the nose bleed but the rest of it was her heart.

For days Athanasia had felt weak and her parents' intolerance and ignorance and verbal abuse towards her and her weak immune system made Athanasia ignore her own symptoms.

When she woke up she was in the ICU for three days. The nurse who was with her when she came around told her she had suffered a heart attack and she had flat lined nine times. The first time was when the paramedics found her on the floor of her classroom with the Mrs. Mila looking at her, Mrs. Mila had told them she had just fainted but the paramedics searched for pulse found none and said to Mrs. Mila;

"Did you perform CPR when the girl collapsed?" The Paramedic asked and Mrs. Mila shook her head no.

"You could have saved her, miss. She is dead will have to bring her back now or at least try." The Paramedic had said to Mrs. Mila who looked terrified.

The kids had gathered and watched in horror.

The paramedic tried to bring her back twice but couldn't so she took Athanasia in the ambulance where her partner tried again and managed to bring her back.

As they examined Athanasia they saw the marks of self harm and the old abuse scars but said nothing.

"You also told the paramedic who stayed with you the first day that you were born dead and your heart was already weak." The nurse told Athanasia who was crying.

"Also you might want to be careful as we examined you we found out you had an illness called Osteoarthritis Chondropathy that might explain the fact you don't feel your legs from the knees and down. We have scheduled you for a surgery in two days. You scared us!" The nurse said with a kind voice at Athanasia who nodded enable to understand where all this came from.

"Where is the paramedic that stayed with me?" Athanasia had asked the nurse who smiled.

"Oh! He went to get his son from school he will be here in a few hours. You can thank him then." The nurse said as she walked out of the room.

Athanasia stare at the empty room, she expected at least her parents would be here but nothing. Not even a classmate in sight.

She started to cry. She had died and no one cared!

"Maybe I should have stayed dead." She said to herself as she crawled into a ball and cried.

She might not have felt her legs but she felt them with her hand that they had obeyed her need to disappear.

At some time in noon she felt a warm hand on her shoulder as she opened her eyes and saw a boy her age looking at her with a soft smile.

"Hello! My dad said to wake you up in order to eat something. You want soup or chicken with potatoes?" The boy asked her and she just pointed the soup.

"I'm Brian but most people call me Michael since it's a Greek sounding name. I like my first name better than my middle Greek sounding name." Brian said as he served her soup and he took the chicken with the potatoes and sat next to her and started eating.

"My mum made the soup, she will come by with clean clothes. Do you want to call your parents?" Brian asked her as he studied her how she ate in silence.

"No, they don't care. If they did they would have been here from day one." Athanasia said to Brian as a tear rolled down her eyes.

"The soup is delicious tell your mum. I might ask her for the recipe to cook it to my sister." Athanasia had said to Brian who smiled and ripped a page out of his notebook in his lap.

And wrote;

" _ **Love"**_

"Here, that's the recipe!" Brian said to her as he handed her the page and she chuckled as she read it.

"Sure that is all it needs to materialize!" Athanasia laughed but winced as her stitches on her chest hurt.

"They did a surgery in your heart and fixed it. You'll be healthy as a horse." Brian said to her as he looked at her. Her eyes had a storm of emotions.

"You speak English very well." Athanasia told Brian shocked as she just realized that their entire conversation was in English.

"I could say the same thing about you too. Dad found your bag at school and found out that you were sitting the exams for Proficiency so a little oral practice won't hurt, right?" Brian said with a wink and Athanasia nodded then exclaimed in remembrance.

" MISS KATHY! OUR LESSON!"

"Relax! She came by the second day you didn't show up for class and she got a call from my dad. She dropped some homework and said that you can get to them once you feel better." Brian scolded her in worry as the heart machine picked up it's beeping sound which made Athanasia's heart had picked heartbeats.

And it was dangerous for her health.

"You were in a three day coma, artificial induced of course but still you need to be careful." Brian instructed her in a kind tone and Athanasia nodded as she continue eating and Brian copied her.

"Brian, I haven't seen you in school at all, in which are you going?" Athanasia asked once they had finished their lunches.

"I go to a private school in Thessaloniki and I'm moving back and forth. Mum said that kids can be a little reckless here with day drinking and illegal car racing. To be honest I agree all my friends here have been arrested at least once." Brian said to her as they sat in Athanasia's bed and watched some Astrology documentary on TV.

"I like Astrology." Athanasia said at random and Brian looked at her and smiled without saying anything back. Athanasia didn't look at Brian when she spoke so she had no idea of Brian studying her.

After the documentary was done Athanasia borrowed Brian's pencil and started working on her English homework as Brian did his.

"Don't you have friends at your school?" Brian asked her after the silence seemed deafening.

"Nope. If I had they would have at least be here or go worried about me." Athanasia answered back and tried to keep her emotions in check but the heart monitor gave her away and her eyes filled with unspilled tears.

"Well, you have me from now on." Brian said to her as he squeezed her hand and Athanasia looked at him and the tears she fought to keep spilled in her eyes.

"Thank you."

"No thank you, I'm not doing an errand or a favor. It's the human thing to do." Brian said to her and she chuckled as she wiped her tears with her free hand.

"You can let go, Brian." Athanasia told him with a small smile.

"No, never." Brian said to her but they both knew they didn't speak about her hand trapped under his. Not anymore.

 _ **Days Later:**_

Athanasia had gone home all by herself as she was discharged by the paramedic who brought her in and she walked home with crutches as she was still recovering from the knee surgeries she had undergone, her parents didn't care to pick her up so she rode the bus.

When she opened the door she saw her sister's drawing on the coffee table;

 _ **"Welcome home, sissy!"**_

It had written on it and then she saw a pink heart drawing above the wish and Athanasia sighed and hugged the piece of paper then she heard the keys and quickly folded the paper and hid it in her pants, they were cut above the knee in order to allow the irons cast to be placed as a way for her to not over bend her knees…like a walker that helped keep the knees bending as much as it was needed for her to walk or sit down or stand up.

Inside her knees she had plastic blockers keeping her knee coarser from dislocating causing her to lose control of her legs and fall and her knees and to dislocate.

"Vasiliki?" Her mum's voice was heard as she turned and saw her mother, the woman who gave birth to her yet she left her alone to fight with death nine times!

"Yes?" Athanasia asked with a harsh tone and her voice unreadable.

"What happened to you? Where were you for seven weeks? Your dad and I were worried! Your sister was worried about you!" Her mother yelled at her as she put the groceries away.

"Oh! Nowhere, really just fighting with death." She said in a harsh tone.

"Come on now! Let the nonsense and tell me the truth, Vasiliki!" Her mother said as she put the pasta on the cardboard not bothering to look at her daughter.

"Mother, look at me." Athanasia yelled at her mother not caring if she got beaten or yelled at. She has had enough of their shit and their behavior!

Her mother jumped at her older daughter's harsh tone and turned to look at her.

"What do you see mum? Doesn't the image tell you where I was for the past seven weeks?" Athanasia asked as she held herself with the crutches and stare at her mum's shocked face.

"What happened to you?" Her mother asked her shocked and horrified.

"I HAD A HEART ATTACK AND I DIED NINE TIMES MUM! I WAS IN A COMA FOR THREE DAYS! I WAS TAKEN INTO SURGERY FOR MY HEART AND MY KNEES BECAUSE I HAVE OSTEOARTHRITIS CHONDROPATHY, MOTHER! FOR THE PAST FOUR WEEKS I WAS IN PHYSICAL THERAPHY SO I CAN WALK AGAIN! NOT THAT YOU OR DAD CARED! THANK THE ARMY'S INSURANCE FOR TAKING CARE OF MY WELLBEING BETTER THAN EVER YOU OR DAD DID!" She yelled at them in anger as she stormed off.

She was told in the hospital thanks to the fact that her dad was in the Army and her and her sister had insurances built by the Army when they were born and now they were under their wishes they could withdrawal money from those bank accounts.

Her mother quickly texted her husband letting him know what had happened to their elder daughter and sighed looking at a family photo, an old one.

She knew that what they had done to their kids' childhoods was unspeakable but couldn't understand why no one called them to tell them about their daughter's hospitalization.

Not that they bothered to search for her when twenty four hours passed and she didn't show up at the house.

As for her younger sister she had marched up to her older sister's high school the day after she had disappeared and demanded answers from the principal and Mrs. Mila who shamefully told her what had happened to her sister. She rode the bus to the hospital along with her friends and visited her or waited at least to but she was in the surgery for her heart and it would take up to twenty hours! So, Alisha just waited for a while and then left disappointed that she didn't get to see her older sister.

At home she tried to tell her parents at lunch what has happened to her older sister but they yelled at her that talking during lunch was impolite. Then they would whoosh her away and tell her to go do her homework.

She gave up the third day she tried and got punched by her dad for raising her voice while her parents were talking about their day.

"STOP LYING YOU LITTLE BITCH AND ACCEPT THE FACT YOUR SISTER HAS ABANDONED YOU!" Her dad had yelled at her and her mum just started texting on her phone probably on Facebook.

Alisha ran to her room in tears as she studied the bruise that was forming on her jaw and started drawing a welcome home sign for her sister. If no one else cared for her sister she would care enough that will feel the void that people carelessness left.

Athanasia sat on the bed once she was done changing into her pjs and folded the legs of the pants and then modified the bed just to her needs as she was taught in the wellness center and opened her phone.

She log in on Instagram and searched of Natalia's profile and checked the updates and sighed in sadness and pain as she watched her smile and write how much she loved her besties, not her or Polly, some new girls.

She felt her heart hurt literarily and the machine she had attached to her in order to keep track of the heartbeats beeped which signaled Athanasia that her heartbeats had reached a potential dangerous level.

She would take that machine out in two years from now.

Then she got a text from Brian on Facebook wishing her a good recovery and that once she ditched the crutches his parents had invited her over for a well cooked meal as a way for meeting properly.

She had met Brian's mum, Ophelia, and she was such a good lady, cook and mother unlike her own. Ophelia instantly felt bad of the girl after her husband told her of the case he had to deal with.

"Why you put her on the ambulance if she was already dead, honey?" Ophelia had asked her husband as they laid in bed at night.

"Because a voice inside my head told me that she wasn't done changing the world yet. That she had to live, survive and I guess the voice was right. Look how well Brian and her are going! Plus I think Brian has a crush on her." David told his wife and Ophelia nodded with a warm smile.

The next day she visited the girl even though she was in a coma she stayed with her since no one seemed to care for the poor soul.

As she held Athanasia's cold hand she saw the markings of scars on her arm. In terror she carefully looked under the sheets and saw the scars extending to her fragile body all the way down to her belly and to her waist.

"Oh! Dear lord!" She exclaimed in terror as she realized the girl before her was harming herself by making scars on herself and she recognize that those scars weren't created by a any sort of blade just nails…finger nails.

The next day Athanasia walked into school with her crutches and her bag on her bag like normally while listening to music with her headphones, people stare at her.

She smiled to herself as she thought now people thought she was a vampire since she couldn't die and stay dead for good.

"Vasiliki!" Mrs. Mila exclaimed caught off guard as she walked inside the class and found the girl sitting at her seat that for seven weeks and a day had been empty.

"Hi." She spoke to Mrs. Mila without really looking at her she continued reading the previous lesson so she can be caught up.

"How are you feeling?" Mrs. Mila asked hesitantly and clearly ashamed about her behavior.

"Not like you care but I'm good." She said to her as she looked at her for the first time ever since she died under her watch.

Mrs. Mila had to keep back a gasp at how cold Athanasia's stare was.

The rest of the class were surprised to see her and Mary even expressed how horrified she was seeing her lying on the cold floor with blood coming out of her nose and having no pulse.

"You know no one dared to do anything helpful, they snapped pictures of you I called the ambulance. And then I bullied them to delete the photos it wasn't fair that they let you lying there while they laughed at you. Were you really dead?" Mary asked her in a whispered as the teacher gave instructions on how to draw the head of the Great Alexander.

"Yes I was. And thank you but bullying isn't good no matter for what reason you're doing it." Athanasia spoke wisely to Mary who nodded understanding.

"Um…what did you saw when you died?" Mary asked hesitantly and Athanasia looked far off at the distance.

"Blackness and nothingness. Maybe I went to hell for a second or it wasn't my time yet to see what is really after death. Maybe I was in the waiting room of The Other Side." Athanasia answered truthfully and Mary nodded as she smiled at her and then the girls went back to drawing.

Graduation day came and Athanasia had seated her Proficiency exams and passed them with flying colors and graduated from High School with a Graphics Designer's degree and Computer Programming degree at the same time since she had taken the Computer's exam a month after she came out of the hospital and her computer broke down and as she asked her Computer Science teacher to fix it her teacher invited her to his after school lessons of Computer Science he did to men and women who wanted a certificate for work.

So she had crossed off three things off her "To Do List" and now she was off to college. Brian and her kept in touch and talked every day.

On her birthday she went out and walked around the town doing her hobby of landscape photography when she unknowingly reached the suburbs where her grandma and aunt lived and decided to visit them, they had no idea what had happened to her and they hadn't seen her for months since she was unable to walk all the way there and the bus that took her there had no seats or space for someone in her condition.

As she was leaving her grandma and aunt's apartment she opened the elevator door and she knocked someone on the face and she saw Brian who was holding shopping bags.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Athanasia exclaimed in worry as she helped him and that is how she found herself eating lunch with Brian's parents.

"Also, happy birthday!" Brian said to her as Ophelia was in the kitchen bringing the dessert and David was helping his wife in the kitchen.

Brian gave her a bag with a shirt that wrote;

" _ **Never Give Up"**_

"Thank you, Brian it's really nice!" She smiled and stood up and walked up to him and hugged him something she hasn't done EVER!

"Just don't forget it." Brian said to her as they hold on to each other.

Brian's mum, Ophelia had told him what Athanasia might be facing at home so he thought this low key reminder was what she needed until she was ready to tell him so he can be openly helping her.

 _ **A few months later:**_

Her life was getting better since as she was going to Thessaloniki studying Directing and Filmmaking her and Brian were sharing her aunt's apartment there every week day and on weekends they were going to their parents' homes staying for two days. That helped Athanasia keep an eye on her sister who was drifting towards hard partying during high school and started getting warning from cops for distractions of public property. The abuse had stopped completely since her sister and parents had cut any communication even living in the same house!

In the middle of Christmas though things took a dramatic turn, Alisha approached her older sister while Christmas shopping in Thessaloniki and said;

"Aunt Teresa plans to take my custody from dad and mum. She's been silently preparing a court case against them for years! I finally won't be afraid to leave my room!" Alisha exclaimed happily as Athanasia smiled truly relived of the turn of events and that their aunt and grandma weren't so blind after all.

Aunt Teresa won the custody of Alisha in mid of May and as Athanasia's birthday arrived they celebrated both Alisha's freedom and Athanasia's birthday in one big celebration!

Athanasia had invited Brian too and his parents she had told him about her situation before moving and Brian had told her he had noticed and suspected it but waited for her to tell him before confronting her.

She was grateful for that and his family's support.

Brian during the 3rd year of college started dating this girl named Irene who was a very kind girl and helped Athanasia with her adjustment to new meds for her heart since Irene and her met at the hospital during her regular check-ups and she was a residency student and same field as Brian.

She was happy for them but Brian seemed overly concern with her opinion in his relationship with Irene which made Athanasia a little worried that his behavior might destroy what was good between him and his girlfriend.

Irene and Athanasia discussed this and Irene laughed at Athanasia's terrified reaction at the thought that her would be the reason Brian and Irene won't work.

"Chill! Brian and I are casually dating nothing hardcore besides he told me at first hand that he had been crushing on a girl that doesn't seem to be in the phase for a relationship at the moment and he is trying to get over her." Irene had said as Athanasia sipped her hot coffee and the girls linked their arms as they walked towards the supermarket.

"Are you sure? Do you know the girl's name he is hung upon?" Athanasia asked as they walked inside the supermarket and started looking around for milk.

"Yes. It's you." Irene said with a giddy smile and Athanasia stopped in her tracks and looked at Irene.

"You kidding right?" Athanasia asked terrified.

She didn't want to lose Brian!

Not over a break up!

"Nope. But between you and I, you have bigger fishes to fry. So, let boyfriends at the back burner as Brian likes to say." Irene said to her friend who nodded as she tried to swallow but her mouth was suddenly dry.

The rest of the day she passed with completing some of the household of chores while she thought about Brian's crush or whatever it was.

At night as she cooked dinner and lunch for the next day she glanced at Brian who was studying at the desktop computer of the house since his laptop had come into a contact with water and coffee due to his frantic movements the day before and now it was sitting at the computer store waiting to be fixed.

"Brian?" Athanasia asked hesitantly.

In their apartment they used to communicate in English since his dad was American that moved to Greece for love and it came naturally to both of them.

"Yes?" Brian asked without looking at Athanasia since he was typing something.

"Um…thank you for being my friend all these years, it means a lot. And I don't want to lose it, it's rare at least for me to have such close friendship with someone after Natalia." Athanasia said with all the bravery she had mastered at the last second. She sure did sound scared and that made Brian turn and look at her worried.

In his mind bells went off but not the good kind, he thought that Athanasia might have decided to kill herself after all, he had learnt from Alisha that Athanasia three years before they met she had tried to jump off the balcony of their apartment during Christmas night.

And he has been worried sick about her mental health, something that if Athanasia knew she would have pushed him away as a way to unburden his consciousness.

"Where is this coming from, Vasiliki?" Brian asked as he masked his tone with an emotionless one but you could see from the way he had turned towards his best friend he was worried you could say even scared.

"Nowhere! I just thought you would like to hear it. I had never expressed how grateful I am." Athanasia said refusing to look Brian as she continued cooking.

Brian stood up and walked up to her and he stood behind her.

No one spoke for awhile and as Athanasia twirled around to put something inside the tap she jumped at Brian's presence and clutched her heart in reflect and she felt the scar the surgery had left behind from above her clothes.

Brian's eyes you could see a storm of emotions going through him and Athanasia got curious.

"Are you alright?" Athanasia asked confused and Brian nodded as he gulped but a few tears run down his eyes which confused Athanasia even more.

What was going on?

"Please, don't give up." Brian choked out as he launched at her and cupped her face and kissed her.

"Please!" He breathed out as he looked at her eyes after the kiss and then kissed her again.

Everything happened so fast that Athanasia hadn't had the time to register what was going on way too late when her lips were smashed with Brian's.

She kissed him back really not knowing how to since he was her first kiss, Brian's wasn't.

"If you haven't realized that I love you by now I'm telling you now. I love you and please don't give up! Not just for me but for you too! Think about all the people it's your fate to meet and help with your mum-like advice and give strength to those who think they don't have because you are strong!" Brian told her as he cupped her face and looked at her in the eyes.

Athanasia's mind was racing in million directions just like my fingers over the keyboard now that I'm typing this. So, she didn't speak much she just stared at him in complete and utter loss of words.

"Vasiliki?" Brian asked her and she sighed as she shook her head and stepped away from him and gazed at her shoes for a moment then met his gaze which was completely uncertain and confused as if the kiss was a wrong movement.

"Yes?" She asked as she cleared her throat and looked at Brian who was literarily tapping his foot to the ground from how nervous he was.

"I love you." He repeated in an attempt to get her to respond to him.

"I don't want our friendship to end if this doesn't work, Brian besides you are with Irene now and I don't care if it's casual or not you owe her to be faithful and you're not at the moment." Athanasia broke in complete nervous rant as she moved away from Brian but he clutched her hand and he kissed her again making her shut up.

"I am faithful because Irene and I broke up this morning after you brought the groceries she called me and told me that she feels as if she is in the way of us." Brian said to Athanasia after the kiss and she sighed.

"Then what now?" Athanasia asked completely at loss that it was amusing for Brian.

"Now, you answer this question; do you feel the same way I do? Because your kisses say a different story than your face right now and frankly it's quite confusing." Brian explained to her in a soft tone and a little nervous about what answer she would gave.

"I really really like you and I really do love you but what if the love runs out?" Athanasia asked afraid and Brian's eyes teared up as he understood that Athanasia was too afraid to love.

"I understand." As he moved away from her but Athanasia launched at him this time and hugged him refusing to let go as Brian tried to do but she didn't.

"Please." She said in sadness as she clutched at Brian.

"Brian, I do love you but I'm really afraid that our friendship will be destroyed." Athanasia admitted as she breathed in his scent.

Brian sighed as he understood what she was afraid and in all honest he was also afraid too. So he just kissed her passionately and then told her that he understood her fears.

That night their relationship started.

Fast forward in their last year of college their relationship was going strong and Athanasia and him were getting ready to apply for a Green Card in US…well Athanasia was applying for a Green Card since Brian had a citizenship thanks to his dad.

Once she was accepted she finally broke the news to her aunt, sister and grandma. Her parents were sent to jail and later on into a correction facility and the girls never visited them.

Her aunt was happy for her, her grandma warn her not to forget her roots and visit them from time to time as for her sister she gave her best wishes and promised she will come to stay with her once she graduates High School so she can study Clothing Designing.

Brian's parents gave him his blessings and his dad gave him his mother's ring in case the States didn't accepted Athanasia so they marry each other. Plus, Brian wasn't shying away from expressing how much in love he was with Athanasia from anyone.

Irene had smiled at their news and made them promise they will return to Greece for her wedding to Brian's cousin, Nathaniel that was this June in…surprise surprise in Lesvos.

Athanasia had protested about returning to that place but Irene reassured her that everything will be okay and there was no chance to fell upon anyone she knew.

So, Athanasia and Brian set off to US and they had dreams. Those dreams weren't as easy for Athanasia in comparison to Brian.

She had a hard time adjusting to them environment of Chicago and finding a job. She managed to find a job at a night bar that paid enough for the rent while Brian was working long shifts at the hospital where he was doing his residency until he and his new found friend Connor Rhodes came to the apartment Brian and Athanasia were living and broke the news to the poor girl.

"We are finishing our residency in Riyadh!" Brian exclaimed in happiness he always wanted to use his gift in real time and where the pressure was high, he thought that would make him a better doctor.

Athanasia nodded without saying anything and stood up to gather the plates from the table since they had hosted Connor over for lunch a Saturday evening.

Brian and Athanasia started fighting about if their relationship will last from distance or not and the night before his flight they broke up with a fight that left Brian hard broken when Athanasia said;

"THAT IS WHAT I WAS AFRAID OF BRIAN! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS MORTIFIED OF! I REGRET THE MOMENT I SAID I LOVED YOU!"

And she slammed the apartment's door and left.

Brian and Athanasia didn't speak for a year. They went to Irene's wedding with separate dates and avoided each other at all cost.

Athanasia the second year moved to Boston where she legally changed her name to Athanasia Bozinekis and enrolled to a Med school with the help of her aunt and grandma who sent a few extra cash her way. Surprisingly she found a job as an Assistant for a wedding planner and waitress.

She had found a few friends who were mostly studying to be nurses. She had a life she was happy but Brian's absence made her heart ache as much as it used to do when she and Natalia had stopped being friends and they reminder of them made her angry.

She joined a boxing class to calm her anger that studying didn't help.

Brian returned from Riyadh and tried to find Athanasia but he wasn't told that she had changed her name from Vasiliki Skorpiti as he knew her to Athanasia Bozinekis so he found her nowhere.

Fate it had it and the two met in her first year back in Chicago as she worked at Chicago Med as an ED doctor and he was a Surgeon. She was waiting at the bus stop when she saw him as he was about to get inside his car and his eyes widen in shock as their gazes met.

He run up to her and smiled as puffs of smoke from his mouth came out thanks to the cold temperature.

"Vasiliki!" He gasped like he was holding his breath; which he was in a sense since his break up with her felt like someone was not allowing him oxygen at times.

"Brian." Athanasia nodded without showing any emotion in her face but then she turned for a moment and the same old Vasiliki appeared.

"I'm sorry I can't talk now I see my bus coming and I have to go." She threw his way as she rushed on the bus and then turned and smiled to him from inside the bus.

Brian was confused by that encounter so he searched for her during their breaks the next day and couldn't locate her because he was asking for Doctor Skorpiti and no one knew her that way.

Not anymore.

They met again the same day at the parking lot where Brian chased her to the bus stop where he finally got a glimpse of her name tag as he put his hand on her shoulder and turned her towards him in order to focus her attention onto him and not running away.

"Dr. Bozinekis?" He gasped somewhat hurt and confused.

"Yes, I changed my name. A lot have changed since you were gone five years ago, Brian!" Her harsh tone hurt him.

"Do you still love me because I surely do and I don't care this isn't a appropriate place to ask something like this because for the past five years you were my only thought whenever I wouldn't work! Connor can vouch for that!" He pleaded her as he held her hands gentle and Athanasia sighed as she looked anywhere but Brian.

"Leave me alone, please! I've been hurt enough. I have finally accepted that love nor friendship or peace is in the cards for me." Athanasia said to him in sadness as she looked at him.

Brian had to hold back his gasp at the hurt in her eyes.

"We can work through it! And I promise I won't leave you again!" Brian pleaded again.

"You don't understand, Brian! I AM THE PROBLEM! My fear and distrust is what is keeping this from working!" She exclaimed finally giving him the true reason why she refused him so strongly.

"Let's join couples counseling then!" Brian exclaimed in delight once he found a solution which Athanasia couldn't refuse.

"FINE!" She gave up and then Brian kissed her which made the rest of the bus stop to whistle and applaud them.

They went to couple counseling for the following three years and Athanasia had finally come at peace with everything that happened to her.

Everything was good until a particular announcement made her gulp in fear.

She was pregnant!

Brian jumped in happiness and Athanasia was also excited but she was also afraid of repeating her parents' mistakes.

As she reached six months pregnant she was hit with the news of her grandma passing and they flew to Greece for her funeral and memorial.

Four months after her death, Athanasia gave birth to a baby boy and they named him Jaime Alexander Maxwell. Once he became four years old his parents decided to get married and he was the best man!

So, Athanasia was named Doctor Athanasia Bozinekis-Maxwell.

Jaime was five when Athanasia came into a contact with another obstacle of her past; her old friend Natalia had been transferred to Chicago Med from New York where she worked as a famous painter and she needed surgery.

Athanasia was put as a surgeon thanks to her qualifications after all she indeed had graduated at the age of twenty two from Med school with a Trauma Surgeon's degree.

Natalia needed lung transplant due to lung cancer she developed from being a smoker and living into a house where everyone smoked.

Brian and Athanasia were the surgeon's attending her since they spoke Greek easily and they could explain it to Natalia's family.

Athanasia refused to talk to them so Brian took over.

She saved her ex best friend's life in the shadows and her husband took all the credits but she didn't care, she did that profession to help people not the credit.

Natalia asked her step mum who was with her during the surgery who saved her life and that she wanted to thank them personally so her step mum approached Brian and asked him to come by their room once he had a break.

Brian tried to make Athanasia come and meet her back she refused until Brian grabbed her hand and said;

"Alright, we don't tell them you saved her but I need to introduce the woman of my life to them." He found this lame excuse and Athanasia sighed as she took off her doctor's coat and walked with him inside the room.

Maggie and April were smirking and waiting for the news of how this interaction went.

But Athanasia was paged just before they could reach the bed and she run to the ED leaving Brian by himself.

Natalia and her step mum with dad thanked him so many times that he couldn't just stand there and take it all for himself so he blurted out;

"Actually, my wife saved you Natalia I was just the helping hand in the OR." Brian said guiltily and proud at the same time for his wife's achievements.

"Who is your wife, son?" Natalia's dad asked with an interest.

"Doctor Athanasia Bozinekis-Maxwell." Brian said smiling like a lovesick puppy.

"When can I meet her?" Natalia asked excited and Brian sigh…and said;

"We are scheduled to have lunch at the cafeteria in two hours with our son who will come by with our colleague Natalie, our sons go to the same school campus. You can come downstairs then, we will have lunch outside so you're welcome to join if you want." Brian said to Natalia who nodded with a smile but frown at Brian's frown as he extended the invitation.

Owen is a little smaller in age but the Daycare and Primary school are in the same grounds so Natalie will drop him by.

Brian wasn't feeling comfortable extending the invitation to someone his wife was hurt by in the past to the point of deep depression and suicide attempt. But he wanted to show Natalia that her behavior didn't break Athanasia instead it made her stronger and she was thriving.

He wished Natalia would be jealous of his wife since Athanasia has been jealous of Natalia all her teenage years and young adult life.

 _ **Two Hours Later:**_

Natalia stood up from her bed and went to the window where it had a view of the outside eating area of the cafeteria and watched as Brian was playing with his son a game while a woman was looking something inside a school bag. As the woman looked up from the bag to her son and asked him something Natalia wasn't able to hear because of the distance, she had to cover her mouth in shock.

Right there, right there stood none other than Vasiliki Skorpiti her ex-best friend from childhood. She had wondered over the years what had happened to her since no one heard from her after she moved away and the two of them stopped being friends.

She wondered for a second if what Athanasia had told her the first and last summer they met after she had moved away was true;

 _ **Flashback:**_

 _ **The two girls walked around the streets of Natalia's mum's new neighborhood when Athanasia sighed and sat down on a bench and motioned for Natalia to copy her and she did.**_

" _ **I need to tell you something." Athanasia said hesitantly and Natalia nodded waiting.**_

" _ **My parents are bad people and I know you are seeing my mother as the perfect caring mother you wished yours was but that was all an act for you. The moment you would leave…she and father would turn into abusive monsters. They would hit me and Alisha, yell at us, call us names and force us to do chores. The reason why I wouldn't come and play outside with you the early years was the reason that I had to do all the chores before I was allowed out but when I was done I was too tired to come out and play and I had to help my sister study and have her bathed." Athanasia had said quickly with all the courage she had mastered.**_

" _ **And all this became unbearable for me since at school I was bullied too, the kids were so mean that at the age of 8 I finally understood that I was suffering from early symptoms of depression. And now at thirteen I still do. I'm fighting every day to get out of bed! I keep on saying to myself "One more day." Or "You can do it!". But I can't not when I don't have a support system that is why I decided to tell you, I need you to help me. Keep me from the dark side of things even over the phone! Can you please help me?" Athanasia had said quickly as tears clouded her face but Natalia's silence was a loud answer.**_

" _ **Um…wow! Are you sure that your sister and you didn't deserve the beatings? Your parents are amazing! Not like mine who abandoned me." Natalia had commented in disbelief which hurt more than any beating Athanasia had gone through thus far.**_

" _ **And the bullying was nothing, they just called you names, it's normal." Natalia had added and Athanasia had gotten her answer.**_

" _ **Oh! I see! Maybe you're right." Athanasia had pretended to not really care that her own best friend didn't believe her that she and her sister were victims of domestic abuse and bullying.**_

" _ **And what you have isn't depression is just teenage hormones going crazy, it will pass don't think too much about it." Natalia had added absentmindedly.**_

 _ **Then the girls stood up and continued their stroll.**_

 _ **End of flashback:**_

Natalia walked downstairs where Brian had invited her and parents as she and her step mum walked towards the table Natalia heard little Jaime say;

"Mommy, a boy at school said to his teacher that his mum is hitting him and the teacher said that probably he wasn't a good boy. I don't believe it, Ryan, is such a good boy! Should I tell that to Uncle Jay or Uncle Antonio? Maybe, Aunt Kim?" Jaime spoke loudly and said as he munched on his toast and Athanasia sighed.

"We will see what we can do, sweetheart." Athanasia spoke in a perfect American accent which confused Natalia because as much as she tried to sound American she couldn't, she kept on having a Greek accent no matter what.

"Vasiliki?!" Natalia gasped as Athanasia looked at her with an emotionless face and she held her son close, protectively as Brian seemed tensed.

"What are you doing here? He's married you know." Natalia said with a defensive tone in Greek and Brian chuckled at that.

"She knows, Natalia." Brian answered to her in Greek with a smile.

"Then why is she a homewreck?" Natalia accused Athanasia whose face was flushed red in anger.

"I AM NOT A HOMEWRECK!" She jumped up and Jaime stared at her shocked.

"Oh uh! Mommy's angry. I'll go play!" Jaime exclaimed in a weirdly funny tone as he run to the playground that was a few steps away from where they had lunch.

"Oh! Really? Then what is this? Where is your wife, Doctor Athanasia Bozinekis-Maxwell, wasn't her name?" Natalia asked in accusing tone and Athanasia folded her arms.

"I am Doctor Athanasia Bozinekis-Maxwell, Natalia. I am his wife and the mother of this lovely boy." Athanasia said in defense and with a threatening tone as she walked up to Natalia and slightly tower over her.

Natalia was 1.60 m and Athanasia was 1.73 m.

"But you're name is Vasiliki Skorpiti!" Natalia asked confused.

"How dumb can you be?" Athanasia exclaimed in a bitter laugh.

"I'm not dumb! You're a liar!" Natalia exclaimed in anger.

"She is not a liar and how dare you call her one!" Brian exploded in anger.

He couldn't stay silent anymore and have this ungrateful woman accuse his wife of being a liar and a homewreck!

"Instead of showing gratitude she put aside her own trauma to save _you_ , you accuse her of being a liar!" Brian yelled at Natalia barely holding his anger from causing her physical harm. Athanasia grabbed his hand as a way to calm him down and push him behind her.

"Oh! I see! She sold you the lie of her parents abusing her, right? Well, I have news for you! She lied to you! It's a lie! Her parents are saints!" Natalia yelled at the couple and Athanasia have had enough.

"Oh! Really? I guess you weren't there when I suffered a heart attack, had a surgery both in my heart and in my legs and my parents didn't even know I was in the hospital let alone that I died nine times! Or that I was in a coma for three days! I've been gone for seven weeks and they didn't care to search me! You weren't there to see the bruised jaw of Alisha or the whipping marks on her back! You weren't there when I tried to kill myself at fifteen! You weren't there when my dad shot Alisha because she wouldn't shut up because she was hurting from our mum's whippings! You weren't there when I would have to stitch up her back and wipe the blood from the floor! You couldn't even see how I winced every time Polly would touch me because I was hurt under the shirt! You were only present at birthdays where they literarily put a show on for all of you!" Athanasia yelled at Natalia's face in so much anger that her face had become red from screaming.

"So, don't accuse me of lies if you don't have all the facts!" Athanasia said calmer now to Natalia as she marched away from her and went to get her son.

Natalia was left shocked and unable to move or fathom what happened. Her parents behind her were also shocked.

Athanasia broke down crying as she was looking for her son when she fell on Dr. Charles and Sarah.

"Sorry!" She sniffed as she wiped her tears to see who she stepped over.

"Oh! Athanasia! You're okay?" Sarah asked worried at the woman before her. Both women were great friends even though Sarah was twenty six years old and Athanasia was thirty one years old.

"Oh! Yes! I'm fine….i'll be fine! Just…a…you know it's nothing, really! Sorry for crashing into you. Have a nice day!" She stuttered in a hurry as she searched for her son.

"JAIME!" She yelled at the park but none of the kids turned to her calling. Then she saw him sitting with another boy who had a black eye and broken hand.

"Mum! Look who I found! Mum this is the boy I told you about! Ryan this is my mum she will help you, right mum?" Jaime asked in worry as he looked at her in puppy dog eyes.

"Hello, Ryan." Athanasia squatted down to his level as she sniffed her nose trying to compose herself for the boy's sake.

"Did your mommy did this to you?" She asked in worry and the boy nodded.

"I'm hiding from her so she won't find me. She's gone to the toilet." Ryan admitted and Jaime hugged him close as he started crying.

Athanasia nodded and stood up as she took her phone from her pocket and started dialing Antonio's number but she saw Gabby walking out of the hospital and raised her hand in a desperate manner.

Gabby jock her way and asked what was wrong.

She quickly explained the case and Ryan got to stay with Gabby and Casey until the police found his mother and arrested her. Athanasia and Brian where talking about adopting Ryan and how it will help the boy.

So, they started the process. At the same time Anastasia prepared the discharge papers for Natalia and completely ignored her until she left.

Natalia herself didn't spoke to her either.

She's been utterly shocked and guilty at how she had been such a bad friend but yet doubted the extent of the abuse. Her parents though were skeptical about how much they had missed signs of abuse in the past.

A few months went by and Ryan was adopted permanently with Athanasia and Brian and his biological mother was in custody of the police.

Life was good for everyone!

Or so they thought.

Athanasia and Brian would soon find out how hard it is to raise two kids and what surprises might come their way.

 _ **So? What do you think? What do you think of this story? What will be the suprises that come next for Athanasia and Brian? Tell me in your reviews!**_


End file.
